Hopes dashed at Copenhagen climate summit – video report 19 Dec 2009
From the Danish capital at the Copenhagen climate talks, the global agreement reached is being called a failure and a betrayal by many developing nations and environmentalists, but Barack Obama, the U.S. president, says the accord is an unprecedented breakthrough. Mr. Obama said that what was achieved in Copenhagen will not be the end but rather the beginning of a new era for international action.
During the final hours of the final day at the Copenhagen Summit, President Obama brokered an agreement between China, India, Brazil and South Africa, backed by some European leaders. However, the agreement among nations fails to set specific targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and it isn’t legally binding.
The main details of the Copenhagen Accord:
- countries agree to limit the global temperature increase to no more than 2° Celsius;
- there will be a fund of billions of dollars to fight the effects of climate change in poor and vulnerable countries;
- there will be international exchanges of information, agreement on checks on carbon emissions cuts.
Many smaller countries have denounced the agreement, furious that they were excluded from negotiations.
Kumi Naidoo, the International Executive Director of the environmental group Greenpeace, said this about the Copenhagen agreement: “It’s a betrayal of the poor, a betrayal of vulnerable countries, a betrayal of small island states, and it’s a betrayal of the future of all children and grandchildren of this planet.”
For more, watch the video from Alan Fisher (Al Jazeera English News) reporting from Copenhagen.
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